The art is replete with dispensers including a polymeric housing including a hub, a roll of tape including a core journaled on the hub and a length of pressure sensitive adhesive coated tape helically wound around the core, and a paper backcard attached at one end of the hub by which the dispenser can be hung on a display shelf or rack. The backcard is disposed around one end of the hub with the hub disposed within a through opening in the core and a portion of the backcard adjacent one side surface of the roll of tape.
In a known non-reuseable type dispenser, the backcard is held adjacent one side surface of the roll of tape and the roll of tape is prevented from sliding axially off the cylindrical outer surface of the hub by a series of tabs integral with the hub and formed by heat sealing or ultrasonically welding the tabs in a position projecting generally perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the hub. While the backcard is reliably attached to the dispenser, the heat sealing or ultrasonic processes used to form the tabs are irreversible and thus result in a product which is non-reuseable and non-refillable. Also, the heat sealing process used to form the tabs requires time during the manufacturing process which increases the time needed to manufacture a dispenser.
Non-reuseable dispensers are associated with environmental problems, such as problems related with disposal of spent dispensers. Many hand held tape dispensers are manufactured from polystyrene which has a relatively slow degeneration rate. These types of dispensers are used until the roll of tape is depleted and then disposed.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are illustrations of existing tape dispensers which can be re-used. The dispenser 10 depicted in FIG. 1 is a SCOTCH brand transparent tape dispenser available from 3M Argentina. The dispenser 50 of FIGS. 2 and 2A is a NICHIBAN double sided tape dispenser available from Nichiban of Japan which has many parts that are essentially the same as the parts of the dispenser 10 and which have been identified by the same reference numeral to which has been added the suffix "A". Each dispenser 10, 50 includes a housing 20, 20A including a side wall 21, 21A, and a tubular hub 22, 22A having cylindrical inner 23, 23A and outer 24, 24A surfaces, and a first end 25A (FIG. 2A) fixed to the side wall 21, 21A. The hub 22, 22A comprises a base portion 26A joined to the side wall 21, 21A opposite arcuate guide portions 27, 27A projecting axially from the base portion 26A, and first 28, 28A and second 29, 29A opposed arcuate arm portions having a distal end 30, 30A remote from the base portion 26A. The first 28, 28A and second 29, 29A arm portions project axially from the base portion 26A between the guide portions 27, 27A.
The distal ends 30, 30A of the arm portions 28, 28A, 29, 29A include planar cam surfaces 31, 31A and lips 32, 32A; 33, 33A extending radially outward from the hub adjacent the planar cam surface 31, 31A and each of the arm portions 28, 28A, 29, 29A further have arcuate or sloping edges 34, 35, 36, 37; 34A, 35A, 36A, 37A adjacent their distal ends 30, 30A which are located at the edges of the planar cam surfaces 31, 31A. The dispenser 50 shown in FIG. 2 includes an axially extending rib 51A that is believed to assist the hub 22A in holding the backcard 41A on the dispenser 50.
FIGS. 7 and 7A show typical backcards 40, 40A used with the dispensers 10, 50 of FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A which include a hanging aperture 41, 41A adapted to afford display of the dispenser 10, 50, and through openings 42, 42A, 43, 43A disposed between an outer portion of the dispenser housing 49, 49A and the lips 32, 32A, 33, 33A of the hub 22, 22A. The backcard 40 of FIG. 7 is used in conjunction with the dispenser 10 shown in FIG. 1, and comprises cuts 44 and 45 which extend radially away from the through openings 42, 43. The cuts 44, 45 are adapted to permit flexing of the backcard 40 to afford passage of the cam surfaces 31 and lips 32, 33 of the hub 22 through the openings 42, 43 from one side of the backcard 40 to the other during joining of the backcard to the dispenser.
The backcard 40A illustrated in FIG. 7A is used in conjunction with the dispenser 50 shown in FIG. 2. Unlike the guide portions 27 of the dispenser 10, the guide portions 27A of the dispenser 50 extend axially beyond the outer portion 49A of the dispenser housing and fit into large arcuate holes 52A in the backcard 40A (FIG. 2A). This feature is believed to assist in retaining the backcard upon the hub 22A.
During the manufacturing and assembly processes, the dispensers 10, 50 described in FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A, encounter problems when they are joined to the backcards 40, 40A. To join the backcards 40, 40A to the dispensers 10, 50, the cam surfaces 31, 31A and lips 32, 32A, 33, 33A of the hubs 22, 22A must penetrate the openings 42, 42A, 43, 43A of the backcards 40, 40A. The planar cam surfaces 31, 31A and the distal ends 30, 30A of the arm portions present blunt surfaces which are not readily adapted to penetrate the through openings 42, 42A, 43, 43A of the backcards 40, 40A. A failure to join the backcard to the dispenser may result in undesirable consequences such as an increase in the number of rejected dispensers on an assembly line. Such a result may also cause an accumulation or pile-up of dispensers on an assembly line of a high speed assembler which tends to cause assembler failure.
The dispensers disclosed in FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A also encounter problems with retaining the backcards 40, 40A between the lips 32, 32A, 33, 33A and the outer portion 49, 49A of the dispenser housing 20, 20A. The hand held dispensers 10, 50 are subject to a variety of loads such as torque, vibration and shock loads, which can cause the backcards 40, 40A to separate from the hubs 22, 22A. This is an undesirable result for the user as the user must manually replace the backcards in order to hang the dispenser on a commercial display. One solution to this problem has been to place a length of adhesive coated tape across the backcard 40, 40A and the camming surface 31, 31A. This solution, however, is expensive and requires at least one additional step during the manufacturing process.
Also, backcards which utilize through openings with "square" edges or edges formed by the intersection of two straight members tend to tear at the intersection of the two straight member, particularly when the dispenser and backcard are dropped. Stress is believed to be concentrated at the intersection of the two straight members which tends to cause the backcard to tear at the intersection. Such tearing of the backcard tends to lead to backcard rotation and backcard separation from the dispenser. Excessive backcard rotation adversely affects the product's presentation to the consumer, and backcard separation requires extra effort by the user as the backcard must again be attached to the dispenser before the dispenser may be displayed on a commercial display rack.